For several seconds after Dr. Ward spoke, the room did not move.The gown lay open under the preservation lights, beautiful and wounded, its left inner bodice lifted only by the faint glow of the flexible probe. Beneath the mismatched lining, something flat waited between layers that should have held only structure and silk.Thin.Rectangular.Deliberately placed.Leah stood beside the table with both hands pressed against the edge, careful not to touch the gown. The white cotton of her gloves had begun to crease across her knuckles. She could feel her pulse there, beating too hard, too fast, as if her body had understood the discovery before her mind could organize it into meaning.Something had been hidden inside the gown.Inside the place that had pressed against her ribs on the morning Margaret forced her into another woman’s life.Inside the place, Margaret had snapped at the maid not to touch.Daniel stood ac
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